Trapani's 'VIPER' TEAM

摘要

The Italian AF's F-16s initially provided a vital element in the no-fly zone over Libya. Combat Aircraft reports from Trapani in the weeks leading up to the campaign. The recent NATO air campaign over Libya focused the attention of the world on the air base at Trapani, one of the principal hubs for coalition aircraft deployments and combat missions. Situated on the outskirts of the city of Trapani in south-west Sicily, the base at Birgi is the most southerly installation of the Aeronautica Militare to house an operational unit, the present 37° Stormo Caccia. The sole unit of the AM still equipped with the F-16 Fighting Falcon, 37° Stormo is named in honor of Maggiore Cesare Toschi, a hero of WW2 and holder of a posthumous Medaglia d'Oro al Valor Militare (Gold Medal of Military Valor). The air base also houses two further units, which despite receiving logistical support from the base headquarters are, in fact, completely autonomous: 82° Centro CSAR (Combat Search And Rescue), a flying unit which conducts search and rescue on land and over sea, and which operates HH-3F helicopters, and the NATO FOB (Forward Operating Base), a nucleus that supports regular E-3A Sentry AWACS deployments from their home base at Geilenkirchen in Germany, and which contributes to guaranteeing the vital control of the airspace over NATO's southern flank.